An expert in Middle East history and culture, Beshara Doumani ’77 returns to Kenyon on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for a lecture called “Maryam’s Final Word: Toward a Social History of Family Life in Ottoman Syria.” The free talk takes place in Higley Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Doumani is the Joukowski Family Distinguished Professor of Modern Middle East History and the director of the Middle East Studies Program at Brown University. Born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents who left the city of Haifa in 1948 during the creation of the State of Israel, Doumani lived in Lebanon before moving to Toledo, Ohio, in 1970. After graduating from Kenyon with a degree in history, he earned both his master’s degree and doctorate at Georgetown University. Doumani is the author of Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900 and other books about the region, and he is a frequent commentator on news programs.
“Kenyon should be proud to have among its alumni a historian of the Middle East of the caliber of Professor Doumani,” Professor of Religious Studies Vernon Schubel said. “His talk should be of interest to anyone interested in the history of the region and especially the students in our Islamic Civilization and Cultures concentration.”
His visit is co-sponsored by the Program in Asian Studies, Islamic Civilizations and Cultures, and the Religious Studies and History departments in conjunction with Larwill Lectures and the Middle East Student Association.
By Nina Zimmerman ’14